1. Field of the Disclosed Embodiments
This disclosure relates to systems and methods for integrating automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) capabilities in Small Unmanned Aircraft System (sUAS) operations.
2. Related Art
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), as that term may be broadly interpreted, have existed in many different forms since the earliest days of flight. The earliest implementations involved the use of balloons, for example, for battle area reconnaissance and surveillance. This disclosure will use the term “Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS(s))” to refer to a particular class of UAVs that excludes, for example, missiles, unmanned rockets and weather and/or reconnaissance balloons. UASs are that broad class of UAVs, often commonly referred to as drones and/or remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs) that are differentiated from other UAVs, such as those enumerated above, because the UAS platforms are capable of controlled flight from launch, through in-flight operations, to recovery and/or landing in a manner similar to a conventional piloted airplane or helicopter. The control schemes for these UASs may include real-time or near-real-time control of the flight profile by an operator at a remote control console in constant communication with a particular UAS. Alternatively, the control schemes for these UASs may include execution of preplanned and preprogrammed flight plans, which are autonomously executed by a particular UAS. Depending on a sophistication of the UAS, the control scheme may include an integration of both of the above-discussed control schemes such that a single “flight” may include periods of remote operator control and periods of preprogrammed control.
In early implementations, UASs tended to be small aerial vehicles with significant payload size, weight and power (SWAP) limitations. Based on very strict SWAP constraints, the capabilities of early UASs were limited and heavily dependent on technology miniaturization. These UASs saw early operational deployment for use by, for example, militaries worldwide to provide, among other missions, battle area reconnaissance and surveillance, and spoofing of adversary threat weapons systems when augmented with radar reflectors, for example, to act as decoys. The payload constraints were a significant limiting factor in the deployment of the earliest UASs for these and other military uses. Nonetheless, the popularity and efficacy of these systems on the battlefield were readily recognized. Missions could be undertaken that did not put aircrew in unnecessarily dangerous situations. Low cost added to the operational employment advantage for military-operated UASs in that these platforms were more readily expendable than other assets.
A desire to expand the role of UASs in support of military operations led to a requirement to develop UASs with increased payload capacity. Increased payload capacity had a number of advantages. First, some portion of an additional payload capacity could be dedicated to the carriage of additional fuel to extend ranges, and potential loiter times, for the systems in-flight. Second, some portion of an additional payload capacity could be dedicated to the carriage of a broader array of sensors to support expanded mission requirements, particularly sensors of all types that did not need to be specifically modified or miniaturized to be accommodated by the UAS. Third, some portion of an additional payload capacity could be dedicated to the carriage of ordnance carriage for delivery on, and use against, targets of varying descriptions.
Having proved their usefulness on the modern battlefield, employment of UAS platforms and the associated technology was studied for fielding in a broader array of operational scenarios far beyond military-only use. Many commercial entities and law enforcement agencies began developing operational requirements that could be filled through adaptive use of UAS technology. A focus of the development efforts for UAS platforms returned to exploring operation of smaller, more economical UAS platforms. Several manufacturers have worked with customer entities and agencies to develop, test and manufacture small UAS (sUAS) aerial platforms, which are often lightweight, low cost aerial platforms that may be remotely piloted by an sUAS operator at an sUAS control and communication console or workstation in fairly close proximity to, often visual sight of, the sUAS aerial platform in operation. To date, sUAS aerial platforms have been limitedly deployed in support of law enforcement and other agency or individual surveillance requirements. sUAS aerial platforms play an increasing role in many public service and public support missions, which include, but are not limited to, border surveillance, wildlife surveys, military training, weather monitoring, fire detection and monitoring, and myriad local law enforcement surveillance support missions.
The use of sUAS aerial platforms typically occurs outside of usable radar environments (even if the platforms were radar identifiable). sUAS aerial platform operations are conducted generally below 400 feet AGL and within line of sight of an sUAS operator at an sUAS ground-based control and communication workstation. The operator may be co-located in the field with an advanced or augmented laptop computer, or like device, as the ground-based control and communication workstation for operational control of the sUAS aerial platform in flight. The operator may be, for example, local, state, regional or national law enforcement operating the sUAS aerial from his or her law enforcement vehicle, or may be a contract “pilot” operating the sUAS aerial platform from the tailgate of his or her pickup truck. Operations of the sUAS aerial platforms may involve cooperative control of the platforms, data exchange with the platforms, and/or video surveillance recovery from the platforms, among other capabilities.
A challenge to increasingly expanded employment of sUAS aerial platforms generally in many domestic, non-military scenarios, particularly in the United States, stems from the platforms not having aircrew onboard that are able (1) to detect other close and/or conflicting aerial traffic and/or (2) to effect timely maneuvers to avoid collisions based on visual- or sensor-detected proximity to such conflicting aerial traffic.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/792,255 (the 255 application), entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SMALL UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS (sUAS) TACTICAL TRACKING AND MISSION DATA ACQUISITION,” and Ser. No. 13/792,259 (the 259 application), entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REAL-TIME DATA COMMUNICATIONS AND MESSAGING WITH OPERATORS OF SMALL UNMANNED AIRCRAFT SYSTEMS (sUAS),” which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties, generally discuss systems and methods by which autonomous or semi-autonomous sUAS operations may be effectively integrated into current communications and control infrastructures for the national airspace system (NAS).